Ingredients for Thalassery Biriyani/Biriyani Recipe
- Ingredients for masala:
- Mutton(goat) - 2 1/2lbs/1 kg
- Garlic(medium) - 13 cloves(crushed)
- Ginger(crushed) - 1 big piece
- Tomatoes - 4 nos(chopped)
- Green chillies - 13 nos
- Onions(thinly sliced) - 3 nos
- Fresh pepper powder - 1 to 2 tsp
- Lime juice - 1 tbsp
- Curd - 2 tbsp
- Garam masala(preferably home made with jathi pathri) - 1/2 tsp
- Coriander leaves(chopped) - 1 big handful
- Mint leaves(chopped) - 1 handful
- Salt - As reqd
- Oil - As reqd
To prepare rice:(make the rice after the biryani masala is ready)
- Basmati rice/Biryani rice - 3 1/2 cups
- Water - 5 to 6 glasses
- Onion(medium) - 1 cup(sliced)
- Cumin seeds(Jeera) - 1 tsp
- Cardamom pods(Elakka) - 5 nos
- Cloves(Grambu) - 7 nos
- Cinnamon sticks - 5 small pieces
- Bay leaves - 2 or 3 nos
- Ghee - 2 to 3 tbsp
- Salt - As reqd
To garnish the Biryani:
- Onions(thinly sliced) - 2 nos
- Cashew nuts - 12 pieces
- Raisin(Unakka munthiri) - 12 nos
- Ghee and oil to fry the onions
Preparation Method of Thalassery Biriyani/Biriyani Recipe
Prepare Biryani masala first:
1)Wash mutton well and cut into big pieces. For biryani, mutton pieces must be little bit big. Not too big.
2)Grind ginger, garlic and chillies. No need to make it like a paste.
3)Heat pressure cooker and add oil.
4)Saute crushed ginger, garlic, chillies and onions along with salt until the onions become translucent. Salt will make the onions become translucent fast.
5)Add tomatoes and saute it until it softens.
6)Then add mutton, pepper powder and turmeric powder. Mix well and cook for 15 minutes.
7)Mutton will take long time to cook. After 15 minutes, you can pressure cook for 3 whistles. There will be enough water coming from mutton/tomato/onions.
8)Once the mutton is cooked, wait until the pressure cooker cools down or until all the pressure releases from the cooker.
9)If the gravy is a lot, boil them again to reduce the gravy. (If you are preparing for more rice make sure you have enough gravy).
10) Add lime juice, chopped coriander and chopped mint leaves.
11)After 5 minutes and if the meat is cooked well, add curd and stir well. If the mutton is not cooked well, boil it for some more time. Once the curd is mixed do not boil it.
12)Add home made garam masala and close the pressure cooker with a lid and switch it off.
Make garnishing:
1)Fry the cashew nuts in ghee and oil. Keep it aside when the color of the cashew starts changing.
2)Fry the raisins and keep it aside. Make sure you don`t burn it.
3)Now, fry the onion until it becomes golden color. Once it is fried, place it on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
4)Home made garam masala must be prepared before you are done with the rice.
To prepare rice:
1)Wash rice well and pour enough water to immerse the rice and keep it for 15 minutes.
2)Heat a vessel and put the ghee. When the ghee is hot enough, put the onions and saute well until onion starts changing the color.
3)Add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, cumin seeds and bay leaves until the nice aroma of spices comes out.
4)Pour 5 to 6 glasses of water into the vessel. Make sure you don`t put more water than needed. If the water is not enough you can add water at a later stage.
3)Now add the needed amount of salt to this.
4)Now strain the rice and put it into the vessel.
5)Cook the rice in high flame with lid open. When the water is almost gone, close the lid and cook the rice for around 8 minutes. Make sure the rice doesn`t over cook. Also make sure you cook the rice enough. You can keep checking it by pressing the rice.
6)Once the rice is cooked, just mix the rice without messing the rice up. You can just shake the vessel also to mix it.
Make dum for biryani:
1)Take a oven safe thick vessel and apply ghee in the vessel.
2)Divide the rice into 3 portions and Biriyani masala into 2 portions.
3)Now, sprinkle garam masala on top of the rice. Put enough garam masala around little less than half teaspoon.
4)Now put the first portion of rice into the vessel and spread it nicely and put the 1st portion of biryani masala with mutton and spread it.
5)Now put the 2nd portion of rice and spread nicely. Sprinkle the garam masala as mentioned above.
6)Now put the remaining portion of masala with mutton and spread it nicely.
7)Spread the 3rd portion of rice on top of the biryani masala and sprinkle the garam masala as mentioned above.
8)Take a long spoon and just push into the bottom and move a little. It is just to do a small mix of rice and mutton. Do it in 2 or 3 places. Don`t mix it too much.
9)Now spread the cashew, raisins and onions on top of the rice.
10)Cover the vessel with aluminium foil and put the lid on top of it.
11)Preheat oven around 300 degrees on bake mode and put the vessel in the oven and wait for 25 to 30 minutes. If you don`t have oven, put on the gas and in a low flame. Keep it for 20 minutes.
12)Take out the vessel and open the foil and mix the biryani well with masala and the onions.
Enjoy the thalassery biriyani/biriyani with curd salad and papadam.
